Prompt 13 | Day 12 | Free Writing

#reverb13 is a prompt-a-day series for the month of December that is meant to give us all the chance to reflect on 2013 and the opportunity to write down our hopes and dreams for the coming year. Through December 31st Meredith, Sarah and I will be posting each day with a new prompt. Join us by writing, or join us by reading. No matter what you choose, come with us.

Free Writing: Write for five consecutive minutes on the word “jump.” No editing. Set a timer. Just write.

When I was a tiny pup, I created my own past-particple of jump: Jamp. While it was not a word that existed anywhere in the English language, in my tiny mind, the syntax and structure of all of it made sense.

I would shriek it exuberantly, after I had finished jamping across the playground.

I would declare it proudly to my parents, as they would try to gently explain to me how jumped was actually the word I was looking for.

There is something sort of ironic about the fact that as adults, we are given permission to make words, incorporate slang, cultivate our own patois. Because when I think about it, of all of the words that I have dragged with and forced upon others over the years, Jamp has always been one of the most precious.